Mexican president fed up with failing drug war

The War on Drugs doesn't work in Mexico any more than it works here. In fact, over the last few years, it has been much worse south of the border. This year alone, there have been 3,300 murders in Mexico related to drug trafficking and organized crime. The atrocities have been too numerous to follow each day while staying sane - decapitations and nightclub murders have become almost routine, especially in the border state of Chihuahua. Meanwhile, the number of drug addicts in Mexico have doubled in six years to 307,000.

With new legislation to decriminalize drugs, President Felipe Calderon is saying he's had enough.

In an effort to deal with the addiction problem - and the violence that goes with supplying drug users -  Calderon has proposed the decriminalization of small amounts of marijuana, cocaine, meth and heroin. People caught with drugs for personal use would either pay a fine or enter a treatment program. This won't immediately address the violence, but in proposing these reforms Calderon shows he's willing to explore possibilities outside of the failed American policies that have filled prisons for two decades and left demand levels unchanged. If treatment for addicts can ease the demand for drugs, violence will subside.

Vincente Fox, Calderon's predecessor, proposed a similar solution, but it failed under U.S. criticism. Of course, the U.S. response to Mexico's drug and violence crises has been typical: throw money and helicopters and scanners and overtime at the problem. In June, Bush sent an additional $400 million to help Mexico fight drugs. Maybe our next President will step back and let Mexico try to address the escalating drug addiction problem themselves. Maybe our next President will address drug use here, rather than simply locking up users and dealers. Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself.

We'll keep an eye on Calderon's proposal. It's encouraging to see the Mexican government willing to try something new.

Via Alternet